Health Behaviors
1. Describe healthy eating behavior.
Healthy eating behavior is choosing better food choices. A person must make more
mindful choices when it comes to food. Choosing a more nutritious food that contains
vitamins that benefit a person is essential for his wellbeing. Healthy eating behaviors benefit
a person in various ways: an increase in energy level and alertness; a more positive
relationship with food; improved health; easier movement; and improved body image.
Having a healthy eating behavior relies on the person controlling their appetite. Such
discipline allows him to restrict compulsive eating, resulting in weight gain. Many factors
affect how a person feels about food. These factors involve cultural, evolutionary, social,
family, individual, economic status, and psychology.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, healthy eating behaviors is as follows:
Don’t skip meals.
Do plan meals and snacks ahead of time.
Limit your nighttime eating.
Do drink plenty of water.
Do delay or distract yourself when experiencing cravings.
Do exercise instead of eating when you are bored.
Do be attentive when you eat. Don’t eat while watching TV, working, driving, or
standing.
Do only eat in certain settings (i.e., kitchen table).
So do watch your portion sizes.
Do allow yourself to eat a range of foods without forbidding yourself a particular
food.
Do give yourself encouragement.
Do look for a support person to help you stay motivated and accountable.
Do be gentle with yourself! Try not to beat yourself up when you lapse.
Do think of eating healthfully as a lifestyle change.
Do use the scales mindfully. Weigh yourself no more than once a week.
Do make healthy food choices.
Many people use food as a coping mechanism for stress and depression. Although it
emotionally helps in the short term, such an activity risks the person’s self-image by suffering
weight gain or other negative impacts of unhealthy eating behaviors.
2. Give one health risk factor and describe.
A health risk factor is anything, whether it is hereditary or an unfortunate experience, that
increases an individual’s probability of acquiring a disease or other health-related conditions.
One example of a health risk factor is excess weight. It’s also called “obesity” or
“overweight”. From the name itself, it is the excess or above the normal weight compared to
what is considered the normal weight of a person, taking into consideration his height. Such a
condition is due to overeating, which is caused by many factors, and stress eating is one of
those.
3. List common sources of stress and describe techniques for preventing and managing
stress.
Stress is the physiological and psychological response of a person when he is put under
pressure or threatened. There are various common sources of stress. According to Pathfit 1,
stress is caused by events like death in the family, divorce, and job-related concerns. Other
causes are: too much pressure, facing big problems, constant worrying, life-changing
activities, experiencing discrimination or abuse, and existential crisis.
To combat this response, there are various techniques to ease the person. Stress
management is the technique that helps control the level of stress a person experiences. Its
aim is to improve the physiological and psychological functioning of the person that has been
impacted by stress.
According to the Mayo Clinic, there are five types of stress management. First is the use
of guided meditation, which helps the mind to find peace. Various meditation videos are
available on the internet. The second is deep breathing, which reduces the activation of the
sympathetic nervous system while activating the parasympathetic nervous system. Third is
maintaining physical exercise and good nutrition. A healthy body is a healthy mind. Fourth is
managing social media time. Social media is a buzzing platform that causes stress if exposed
for a long period of time. Last is connecting with others. Having healthy social relationships
with others is a great way of reducing stress.
Types of Eating
1. Describe the practice of fueling the performance.
Fueling for performance is eating a specific set of foods or supplements whose nutrients
will benefit a person in a certain activity. This type of eating is especially essential for
athletes to maximize their performance while supporting recovery.
2. What is emotional eating?
Emotional eating is the opposite of fueling for performance. Since fueling for
performance is a form of healthy eating where it is more systematic, while emotional eating,
on the other hand, is a form of unhealthy eating where food intake is uncontrolled.
It is defined as eating foods as a coping mechanism to relieve stress without considering
the kind of food as long as it is edible. One example of emotional eating is stress eating. Due
to stress or other negative emotions, excessive food intake becomes the outlet for easement.
Long-term emotional eating leads to obesity or being overweight.
Designing a simple workout program
1. Which type of exercise is more important, aerobic or strengthening exercise? Why?
Both aerobic and strengthening exercises are important. Since both contribute to the
overall physical fitness of the body by improving one’s health-related components and skill-
related components.
However, considering factors such as age, one will be superior to the other. It is because
age limits the frequency, intensity, time, and type of activity that a person does. For example,
we cannot let seniors box till round 12 while having a phase like Manny Pacquiao, since
doing so risks them to hypertension, which can cost a life. Although strengthening exercises
are also essential for them to maintain a straight posture or flexibility, their hearts are far
more susceptible to failure at their age, which would lead to death. We cannot dispose of the
fact that injuries like bone fractures and dislocations often happen to seniors, but such
misfortune poses little threat to their survivability compared to how serious heart health is to
them. Therefore, aerobic exercises are more important than strengthening exercises from the
perspective of seniors.
To conclude, one exercise only becomes superior to the other exercise when given factors
like: age, physical disabilities, environmental factors, acquired health-related conditions, and
consideration of which field one component is more advantageous.
2. Why do you need to practice cool down stretching?
Similar to warm-ups, cool-down exercises are a transitional period where they help the
body to re-adjust after an activity. Since after an activity, a person's heart, temperature,
and blood level are at their most active state. To aid in these circumstances, doing
cooldown exercises promotes blood flow and reduces stress on the heart and other
muscles. When everything is back to normal, the person is able to do casual activities
without experiencing any prolonged effects of the vigorous activity.
